. >> but bob chapek is in that role and you were thinking what?what i was seeing both during the transition period when i was still there and while i was out. but i really worked hard at distancing myself from it because, one, i couldn't do anything about it. in a way it wasn't my business at all. it was his business to run. and, again, i was not happy with what i was seeing. i worked hard to build the company into what it was over that long period of time. i was proud of those -- i was proud of those accomplishments. it hurts when something that you've put your heart and soul into and you care about so much is going through a difficult time. >> let's talk about succession. there's a lot of people in this room who have to think about their own succession, other types of succession. what was your mistake then? to the degree that you think bob chapek was a mistake -- and i assume you imagine it's one of your biggest? >> first of all, i'm not the only one that may have considered it a mistake. the board obviously had its issues with bob. and i -- >>

a lot of the fixing was focusing away what bob chapek was increasing the subscription model at any costge per user and bringing people to the platform. now bob iger's job is to turn to profitability. he is doing a really good job. we were at $1.5 billion in operating losses when he took over a year ago. now we are getting close to $300 million in operating losses. that will be flat here as we get into the second half of 2024 shifting that dtc and over to profitability is important bob iger is focused on turbo charging the experience of business which includes theme parks and resorts and merchandise and all of those elements to the disney brand i think bob iger did a good job. i give him a "b" plus in the first year he is focusing on the next wave of growth for disney lineal networks is still a cash flow business. there is not a lot of growth there. they are recognizing to do something with that. the areas to focus on is moving. >> "b" plus for you with bob iger in the first year back. alex, give us a sense of the succession plan. is that a top priority for 2024? does something else need

in line with the creative ethos that defines what disney is, and that's one of the reasons why bob chapekas arguably not the right person in the first place and now iger has made it more of a priority to have a person in line who more fits the culture of what disney is, not to take anything away from hugh johnston, a wonderfully nice man and has had a great career in his own right. you get what i'm saying. >> look, i think there is a good bench. iger has pushed together a solid bench. hugh johnston will get the financials organized, he will streamline where he needs to. they already announced a $5.5 billion cost cutting program and he will add to that. there's no question in my mind. but it will take a little bit of time. does he have the creative juices? i don't really know. i need an operating and somebody who can execute and chapek couldn't do any of that. so i think i would give the benefit of the doubt to johnston. >> jimmy? >> so what if just for today, just for today, we don't focus on espn and hulu? i have talked about that ad nauseam. what if for today we actually focused on the

a lot of these things he's talking about, about problems from his predecessor, bob chapek, these arefar back as 2020, he was talking about how disney has cu. now he's saying the same thing. they made too many marvel shows. he's saying that they made sequels to movies that they probably shouldn't have made sequels to. well, it is a weird thing in hollywood when you say we're going to make the good sequels. that's not really a strategy. you have to figure out what the movie business is going to be going forward. and this year has been pretty disastrous for disney. >> just as an aside and to square the circle, i thought it was fascinating, andrew, when i was bringing in elon musk into this, when andrew said do you think people are going to boycott disney. and, you know, elon said they already are. and i'm not going to say it is like -- it is not the sales of bud light. i'm not saying it is akin to that or even -- if you look at the stock price of target, it is hard to ignore because walmart and others that tonight have that problem, doesn't look anything like that. do you adhere to that